


Ground Zero

by viiaitch



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 20:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18977770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viiaitch/pseuds/viiaitch
Summary: “Look, I just… I… fuck it.” The stranger coughs into a fist, and Kisuke feels more than hears or sees Yoruichi tense at the slightest evidence that whoever this is could attack. But instead-” I came to tell you… Get out of the city tonight. Tomorrow… I’m burning it to the ground.”





	Ground Zero

**Author's Note:**

> if i can finish a 3000 word final paper i put off until the last week in the span of 24 hours then i can finish uraichi week goddammit. second to last fic- hopefully the last uraichi week entry will be up in the next 12 or less hours bhfgjdksa but i'm not exactly great at hitting deadlines so we'll see

The shrieks of the undead echo through Karakura, but Kisuke doesn’t pay them any mind. The era of peaceful nights that people could sleep through without interruption is so long gone that he can barely remember a time where it was any different.

 

Ten years since Karakura was overrun. Ten years since the little town became ground zero for the infection that would spread across the country, and eventually the world, leaving governments to crumble and people to sink or swim in an unforgiving world.

 

It’s been just as long since Kisuke last stepped foot in the town.

 

There’s no sign of normal life as he makes his way through distantly familiar streets, only the occasional zombie clawing its way through the overgrown grass or slinking through the shadows of abandoned buildings. There aren’t even any animals in sight- the few that survived the initial outbreaks are no doubt keeping well out of sight of anything large and mobile, and especially anything even vaguely humanoid.

 

Not for the first time, Kisuke feels himself fill with regret.

 

If only he’d been more careful with his Hogyoku. If only he’d just destroyed it.

 

But it’s a bit late for that right now. No time to wallow in that which can’t be changed.

 

Kisuke takes a turn down a narrow alley after finding it clear, and then there’s just a few more turns before-

 

The Urahara Shoten is still standing, but barely. Parts of the walls have rotted away or been torn apart, and none of the doors or windows are intact anymore. It’s been ten years since he was last here, but there’s still a feeling of regret in Kisuke’s heart, seeing the place he’d built from the ground up in such disrepair. 

 

But Kisuke didn’t come to one of the most dangerous sites on the planet just to reminisce. 

 

Yoruichi had come to Kisuke with troubling news, a few weeks back- there’d been activity in Karakura, sightings of something a lot faster than the typical zombies, and seemingly a lot smarter, from what little Yoruichi had heard from the people scavenging the area. There hadn’t been any signs of destruction or deaths- out of the ordinary ones, at least- but it’s still worrying.

 

It could be nothing, could just be an unusually virile zombie running about, or just stories getting exaggerated as they pass from mouth to mouth.

 

But Kisuke trusts Yoruichi’s judgement, and if she thought it important enough to bring to his attention, then it’s at least worth looking in to.

 

After all, just because Aizen had gone underground after he so helpfully kickstarted the apocalypse didn’t mean he’d stay gone forever, and the fact that the activity is in Karakura specifically puts Kisuke on edge.

 

Well. The town isn’t going to search itself. Yoruichi is set to arrive in the next few days to assist Kisuke, but as long as he’s careful, there’s no reason to wait until then to start. Kisuke allows himself another moment in front of his once-home, before turning and heading further into Karakura, footsteps echoing in the night.

 

* * *

 

There was nothing out of the ordinary- not that Kisuke expected to be so lucky as to find any solid proof on his first day revisiting the town. For as small as it was compared to the bigger cities in the area, Karakura was never tiny, and he’s just one man. Even searching through the night didn’t cover more than a couple of neighborhoods.

 

Settling down in a mostly-intact building on the outskirts of the town, Kisuke can’t help but feel that same guilt coming over him again.

 

_ Your fault  _ the first rays of the sun whisper, but Kisuke’s got practice deafening himself to the world and to his own mind.

 

His rest is fitful, and he can’t even blame it on sleeping during the day.

 

* * *

 

Two hours of sleep and Kisuke’s up again, continuing his search.

 

Nothing.

 

* * *

 

Still nothing when Yoruichi joins him, but at least her presence helps him feel a bit more human again.

 

* * *

 

It’s five days in when they find something.

 

And oh,  _ something  _ it definitely is.

 

In the basement of a clinic- it’s something Kisuke has theorized about when the zombies first appeared, first started spreading and devouring anything they found. 

 

The Hogyoku, alongside initiating the degeneration of appearance and mental faculties, awakened an ability to derive power from other living things, far above and beyond that of normal feeding. This is what made the zombies so dangerous- the power creep, as they got more and more dangerous with each victim.

 

They hadn’t been seen targeting each other, though, not in the ten years since the outbreak.

 

But here.

 

In a writhing mass of putrefying skin and agonized groans-

 

Yoruichi tenses up beside Kisuke, which is the equivalent of any normal person reeling back in horror.

 

The first documented case of the monsters eating each other. And if Kisuke’s old fears are correct, his old theories about power accumulation potential unlocked with the Hogyoku-

 

He whips around, dragging Yoruichi out behind him, before they’re noticed.

 

* * *

 

“They’ll  _ what?!”  _ Yoruichi’s voice is a strained hiss, both of them uneasy about making unnecessary noise in the aftermath of their discovery.

 

“It’s not for sure,” Kisuke murmurs back, stepping over the threshold of the dilapidated house that’s been their base of operations for the past several days. “But they might be concentrating their power.” For what end, Kisuke isn’t sure, but he’s pretty willing to bet Aizen has his hand in it. Ten years without seeing any of this behavior, and now suddenly, sightings of something fast and powerful in Karakura, and then this? It’s too many things at once.

 

Still… Aizen was never so sloppy.

 

Something isn’t adding up, but Kisuke still has too many variables and not enough information.

 

“Well what do we  _ do  _ about it?” Yoruichi demands, stalking over to the moldy futon they’d salvaged from a closed earlier in the week, dropping to her knees on top of it, every line of her body tense. “We can’t just leave it.”

 

“We can’t,” Kisuke agrees, approaching his own futon at a more sedate pace. “But if Aizen’s monitoring their progress, and there’s no way he isn’t, if we take them out he’ll know immediately.” And they don’t know if there are any more… nests in the city, or elsewhere, or what safeguards Aizen might have in place.

 

They sleep in turns, though even when it’s Kisuke’s turn to lay down, rest his eyes, he can’t bring himself to relax enough to get any rest.

 

* * *

 

On the sixth day, they spot something moving fast and sure across the rooftops, and Kisuke’s blood runs cold.

 

Even when Yoruichi makes to pursue it, she can’t catch up- it’s been too long since she was active in the field for anything other than survival, and whatever the thing was, it knew which routes were fastest, which roofs were most stable.

 

They might be too late, and it makes Kisuke sick to his stomach.

 

_ Your fault  _ the empty city whispers, and he can’t quite shut it out.

 

* * *

 

On the evening of the seventh, the last thing they expect happens.

 

There’s a thud on the roof a few hours after they ate and settled down for the night- Kisuke’s on watch, but the second the sound fills the building, Yoruichi is on her feet, completely alert, dagger clenched in her right fist. Kisuke’s own hand is curled around his cane- not as much of a cutting edge, but sturdy and having held its own in battering in many a zombie skull.

 

There’s the shuffling sound of movement, and neither of them dare to breathe, before there’s a second, softer thud outside.

 

And then-

 

“I’m not here to hurt you, you can put your weapons down.”

 

Zombies don’t talk. Their vocal chords are one of the first things to deteriorate.

 

But there hasn’t been any sign of any other humans in the area, and dropping down via the roof isn’t any reason for Kisuke to trust whoever this is.

 

But he’s curious.

 

And never very good at making safe decisions.

 

Yoruichi shoots him an incredulous look when he lowers his cane and steps towards the empty door frame, and there, barely illuminated by moonlight-

 

Is a human. A young man, specifically.

 

About expected, because what else would be there, but… there’s something off about him. It’s hard to get a read on him, the moonlight only able to reveal so much, but his stance is relaxed, and his hands are empty of any weapon. It doesn’t absolutely mean he’s safe, but it does ease enough of Kisuke’s nerves for his curiosity to get a better foothold.

 

He shifts his weight from foot to foot, and Kisuke almost tenses up, prepared to deflect a kick, but then he notices- the stranger’s expression is oddly uncomfortable. There’s no intent to attack, nor any smiles or careful neutral expressions to hide darker intent.

 

His face is young. What is someone like that doing in Karakura?

 

There’s the faintest sound of rustling behind Kisuke, and he doesn’t need to look to know Yoruichi’s circled around to one of the empty window sills, prepared to jump through it and launch an attack from the side if she needs to.

 

“I just-” Kisuke’s attention focuses back in on the stranger, and again, he shifts about uncomfortably. “Look, an you stop… staring at me like that? It’s pretty goddamn creepy.”

 

Kisuke takes a moment to respond, because- this is just bizarre. It feels like this must be a strange wishful dream Kisuke’s having, a mysterious handsome stranger bathed in moonlight for Kisuke to appreciate. If it weren’t for the adrenaline in his system, he might have thought it was actually just his tired mind.

 

“...how rude of me,” Kisuke eases out, and even after all these years, the lighthearted persona he’d cultivated in the days he’d posed as a harmless shopkeeper slides into place effortlessly. “I just wasn’t expecting a gentleman caller tonight, is all.”

 

It’s hard to tel, but Kisuke thinks the stranger… blushes? He definitely reels back a step, mouth gaping a bit.

 

Why is there what seems to be just… some lost kid here, in Karakura, on Kisuke’s roof, at night? 

 

Something doesn’t add up.

 

And it makes even less sense when the stranger speaks again.

 

“Look, I just… I… fuck it.” The stranger coughs into a fist, and Kisuke feels more than hears or sees Yoruichi tense at the slightest evidence that whoever this is could attack. But instead-” I came to tell you… Get out of the city tonight. Tomorrow… I’m burning it to the ground.”

  
And then the stranger is turning, and making an  _ impossible  _ jump up to the roof of another building, and vanishing into the night, leaving behind confusion and an even stronger thirst for knowledge in Kisuke.

**Author's Note:**

> it is 4 am pls end me
> 
> WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED  
> ANOTHER ONE I NEED TO WRITE MORE OF TO FINISH


End file.
